Do you Have a Basic Office?
If a person was blindfolded, taken into your office, and the blindfold was removed, would they know what you were selling, what services you provide, or what industry you’re in?
If you want your brand, your mission, your life’s passion to take center stage, there are a few ways you can do this without breaking the bank.
You may choose to incorporate your company’s colors, or colors to encourage particular behaviors or feelings, add statement pieces to your walls, or highlight who your clients are to show what you do and who you do it for.
This post will address color and subsequent posts will discuss what to put on your walls (and what not to) and how to bring in your clientele into your office design.
How to Inspire Your Office With Color:
The two worst things you can do is leave the muted beige up or let one overzealous person pick whatever color pleases their fancy. Not doing that? Ok, great. If your first inclination is to try and bring in your logo’s colors, make sure that it lends itself to a larger space. If you have a purple that is reminiscent only of Barney, be prepared to throw that idea out the window.
Many designers agree that the brightest colors should be used where your employees collaborate. For those with an open office plan, this may mean it still ends up in the conference room, the same as if everyone had offices. After all, if the entire office is one huge “collaborative space” painting all walls a bright color may diminish the effect.
Some schools of thought harp on making sure employees have a buy in to what colors go up. I would suggest providing 3 options and asking employee which is their least favorite. Yes, they have to work in the space, but opening up the discussion to all colors and using a ranking system becomes a mess, especially in a large office.
You want specifics? Yellow, orange and red work well in Mexican restaurants and McDonald’s. But even the Golden Arches has come around to a sleeker grey with light yellow combination. Your best be is to choose muted blues and greens.
These colors are often found in nature and are calming. Think of blue oceans, blue skies, and green gardens. We realize brown is also found in nature, but when was the last time you were in a brown office?
In next month’s posting we’ll discuss the options you have for your walls. We’ll discuss how there really is no one size fits all artwork to magically transform your space, but that bringing your business personality to bear is not an impossible task.